Iowa unemployment holds steady at 4.9 percent

Friday, January 18, 2013 11:33 AM

Iowa's seasonally adjusted
unemployment rate for December was unchanged from November at 4.9 percent, Iowa
Workforce Development announced this morning. A year earlier, the state's
unemployment rate stood at 5.6 percent. The U.S. jobless rate for December was
also the same as the prior month, remaining at 7.8 percent. "The modest
pace of job growth in 2012 managed to drop the state's unemployment rate below
5 percent in the final months of the year," said Teresa Wahlert, director
of Iowa Workforce Development. "The December data also reflected a
stronger hiring pattern in construction, which was reflected in both monthly
and annual job gains." The number of unemployed Iowans decreased slightly
to 80,000 in December from 80,200 in November. The level stood at 93,400 one
year ago.